Merry? Marry?
by diamondwine
Summary: Loki spends Christmas with his girlfriend's family.


My room has always been cold. I guess it doesn't help that the walls are painted an almost dark blue. The colour had come out much darker than I thought it was going to, according to the catalogue from which I remember choosing it when I was sixteen. I remember when my family was preparing to move into this new house; my mom had been working on ripping out all of the old carpet, dismantling the seventies style cabinets in the kitchen, replacing the scum-laden bathtub on the second floor with one she would later have trouble fitting into comfortably, and restoring all the old tiles. The morning after Christmas, I find myself feeling warm for the first time ever in this bedroom (aside from during the summers). I am swaddled in a pair of nearly snow white limbs that even in their sleep, clutch me faintly with a possessiveness that causes me to smile. I have always been accustomed to using a minimum of six blankets on this twin size bed that is older than I am, but I hadn't needed more than three layers last night. I glance down past my feet, lifting my head slightly. The same snowy feet, like the arms that are still wrapped around my middle, are dangling over the edge of the mattress with next to no animation. At long last, he sighs and I look down to find a set of lush eyes blinking up at me. A perfectly blush mouth molds into a toothless smile beneath me, while a wave of lightly curly onyx hair cascades over the head of my bed when he tilts his chin upwards and yawns, causing his Adam's apple to bounce. I smile and finally shiver at my exposure to the air as the dark green sheet slips from my shoulder, where the warmth of his hands aren't protecting my skin. He laughs and his hand travels languidly down my spine before resting on a butt cheek, which his hand squeezes gratefully. Cloud nine still obscures his vision as a satisfied "Hmmm," escapes his lips.

"You left those on all night?" the god asks, turning his head slowly towards one of my windows, where a shadow of dark blue curtains hides the fenestral structure and keeps the sun from coming through. The light brightening the room from my decorative white Christmas lights, which I've strung over the curtains so that the window is lined with them, nearly reflects off of his green eyes.

"I like them. They create atmosphere," I say, spinning a lock of his curls, creating a soft, onyx ring between the proximal and distal phalanges of my index finger. Loki Laufeyson turns his pale cheek to the left to kiss my hand. Slowly, he sits up, and then stretches. I marvel at the beautiful musculature that is his body, the way his ribs become slightly visible as he pulls his forearms skywards, the abs extending with silent perfection. I pull the dark green sheet up around my naked shoulders, the ache forming between my thighs no longer unnoticeable. Loki pulls his feet up under the blankets, creating a tent with his long legs.

"This is my favourite colour," he says, pulling the sheet off my shoulders to leave me bare and exposed again. The blood rushes to my face at the sensuality dripping off his voice, and my nipples respond to the chilly draft by hardening. Loki leans down and nibbles my earlobe.

"Is that why you decided to use this sheet?" he asks.

"Actually, it came from the green bedspread I picked out before going to college as a freshman." My room is overall dark and I tend to dislike it, wishing that my sixteen-year-old-self would have refrained from trying something new and simply gone with the lilac colour I initially chose. It wasn't until a few years ago that my mother finally admitted to hating the bedspread I had picked out. She'd thought it tomboy-ish, and had seemed almost happy when I forgot my blankets upon moving in for my senior year as an undergrad so that we had to go to Target, where I picked a much more feminine red and white floral themed bedspread. Loki glances down at my Winnie the Pooh bedspread, one I've had for a long as I can possibly remember, and he laughs. He notices for the first time that the case on the pillow he just woke up on is a matching Piglet the pig, with the yellow bear on the other side. He laughs some more and I cringe away shyly. Loki looks around my bedroom and sighs.

"Well, you're certainly no child," he says, cocking a brow and tightening his grip on my rear end, which makes me sit up straighter.

"Only a woman could have done the things you and I did last night," he says quietly, making my heart race. Loki kisses my shoulder, and I lean into him. He opens his mouth, which feels hot and wet like a monsoon against my suddenly desperate flesh. The bite is not too hard to hurt, but not too gentle to tickle. Gnawing on me hungrily, Loki encloses me in his arms again. I find that I can't think straight while he's doing this. After a moment, he stops chewing, and I can speak again.

"What'd you think of my family?" I ask. He had spent Christmas with me, meeting my extended family for the first time. He sighs and pulls me to face him, making me straddle his waist. His skin against mine is hot from the insulation of a sheet, a fleece, and a quilt. I can easily make out his genitals that press unintentionally, yet in a no less intimidating way, against mine. He simply smiles and I feel the blood rush to my face again.

"They were nice, especially your grandmother. She's a sprightly old thing. I found it particularly amusing when she admitted to not knowing how to spell yours and your sister's names, and having you write them on those checks she gave you as a gift," he says, cocooning me in those long limbs. I am a caterpillar, and I can slip into hibernation this way, each and every time, and when he's through with me, I'll sprout wings and feel like I can fly. He begins to harden beneath my hips almost instantaneously, yet he continues to speak as if he has no idea what's happening between the heat of our compressed naked bodies. He knows that this will bother me until he does something about it, a game I've grown accustomed to playing on mornings where we wake up together. Wetness from the previous hours begins to find its way outside of me in this new position. Loki laughs with awareness.

"But I think I intimidated your cousins. I'm not exactly sure why."

I close my eyes and moan as I bury my face into his neck.

"Because you're tall," I say against his skin before dragging my teeth across it. Loki leans forth to create a small space between us before his hand swiftly and deftly dives beneath the covers, between my legs. I feel caught off guard by the invasion of two slender digits, and gasp before clutching his shoulders. Loki laughs again and presses his lips hotly to my ear, immediately stroking the fleshy spot inside me that he knows will result in an orgasm.

"What would your mother say if she knew what we were up to in here? Would you get into trouble?" he asks. The serpent that is Loki's voice crawls into my ear and hisses at my brain relentlessly, sending shivers through each and every system, so that the axons fire harder and I react viscerally. My legs go limp on either side of Loki and I turn into a gelatinous mess of moans and gasps, breaths caught in the throat, in his arms. His satisfactory sigh at my response gives me goose bumps.

"Oh god," I breathe.

"What is it, love?" Loki asks indulgently. I smile for an instant as his arrogance takes over.

"I—" instead of being able to finish, I gasp and grab at Loki's wrist, as he has begun to massage me inside so firmly that I nearly scream. I squeeze my legs against his ribs, finally realizing that I have migrated to my back on his long legs.

"No—I have to pee," I warn, attempting to sit up.

"Shh, shh," Loki responds, ignoring my prying hand around his wrist. Despite the fact that my bedroom door is locked, I know that we are vulnerable to being heard easily; I used to talk to my sister in her room next door through the heater while doing my homework on the hardwood floor. These walls are far from soundproof. I find some relief in the fact that I know she did not drop into bed until two a.m., and is most likely still asleep with her fiancé. I look up at Loki, barely able to breathe as he stares over at the door, slowing his hand. He then stops without warning and whips me up into a sitting position so fast that I hit my head against his chest; this impact doesn't cause him to flinch at all.

"What is—?" Before I have a chance to complete my inquiry, I hear the knob of my bedroom door turning unsuccessfully from the outside. There is a knock shortly after.

"Honey, are you two awake?" my mom asks.

"I made breakfast. Ask your boyfriend if he wants some," she says. I roll my eyes with the annoyance of being interrupted and Loki smiles down at me. He'd heard my mother coming to the door before I did. He had been right to stop messing with me, as I had just seen that she attempted to open the door _before _bothering to knock.

"That was close," Loki mouths quietly.

"A—uhm, we're just getting up, mom! Give us a minute." With that, I hear her move on to knock on my sister's door. Loki can't hold it in anymore and laughs. I slap his chest playfully, thankful he has such keen senses. I start to get up and he pulls me back down with a grunt and roll of his eyes, which close when I realize how hard he is. I smile and pry his hands from my hips. Loki opens his eyes and frowns in earnest.

"I told you I have to pee. I'll be right back," I promise, giving him a kiss on the forehead. He lets me up and the sight of him naked sends my whole body sky rocketing. Loki looks up at me impatiently and tells me to hurry up. I grab my pink bathrobe off the step ladder standing in the corner, the one I convinced my dad to buy me my sophomore year of college because I got tired of not being able to reach shit that I stored in the closet tops in my dorm room. At the door, I catch a glimpse of Loki leaning back on one hand with his eyes closed, and I can tell, despite the quilt covering his lap, that he's already stroking himself. I hurry out of my room, passing Jack, the second pet rabbit my little sister begrudgingly forced my mother to buy for her eleventh birthday. He's a black and white Dutch rabbit with territory issues and the aggression of a Doberman, yet he pokes his y-shaped nose against the metal of his cage, thinking I am coming over to give him a carrot, until I close the bathroom door for privacy. The white tiles are almost gray with the dreary morning as I trudge to the toilet and peer outside from behind the shade to find that it is bleak and wet outside. The thought of the God of Mischief waiting in my bed to pleasure me cheers me right up as I lean over the bowl and try not to wet myself, as my legs are still wobbly from his fucking the night before. I relieve myself and hurry to flush the toilet, washing my hands in cold water because I'm too impatient to wait for it to heat up. I know my cold hands won't have a negative effect on Loki, anyway. I rinse my mouth thoroughly in an attempt to erase what I can of the dog breath that comes with waking up from sleep. I step out of the bathroom and lean down to look at the rabbit who stands on his hind legs in the hopes that I'll drop something edible into his cage.

"Hi, Jack," I say pleasantly before continuing to my room. When I begin to open the door, it flies inward hard and I gasp, taken by surprise when it slams shut impatiently after I'm pulled inside by the waist. I can't tell up from down before Loki casts me over his shoulder and hurries back over to my bed in the breadth of about one impatient, godly step. He puts me down gently, however, and pulls the string of my bathrobe before pulling the whole thing off me and throwing it over his shoulder. Loki kneels in front of my bed on the floor and as soon as I begin to sit up, he pulls me clear off the bed to straddle him before plunging inside of me. I gasp with the sudden sensation of being stretched, and find myself thankful that I'm already wet.

"I told you to hurry up," Loki breathes against my forehead. I claw into his back and earn a guttural moan. He slips immediately into character and reprimands me for taking too long in the bathroom.

"You've been a naughty girl this year," he says through gritted teeth, cupping my face and forcing me to meet his gaze. I try hard not to laugh and spoil this role play.

"I'm afraid we're going to have to do something about that," Loki says with a smile that slowly starts to scare me. Loki grabs my knees and pushes them up so that I nearly lose my balance, catching myself on the bed behind me where my back is pressed. He grabs one of my ankles and carefully positions my foot on his taut chest. His smile continues to make me nervous as I watch him with uncertainty. He clasps my left ankle and places my other foot on his right peck. I find this new position odd and almost uncomfortable, as it causes me to engulf his manhood to a depth that I'm not so used to experiencing. Loki presses his hands to the bed behind me and begins to move his waist carefully at first, monitoring my responses. I clutch his shoulder and let my head drop back with a moan.

"Is this okay?" Loki asks, and his voice then is filled with agape and eros at the same time. I tell him just to be careful, and he doesn't move me roughly at all. His thrusts are constant, yet calculated with a degree of carefulness that I've only ever felt with someone actually in love with me. I feel a kiss on the inside of my lower leg as my body rises and falls in tandem with Loki's movements. I sigh and let my hand fall down his chest. He begins to moan quietly, whispering nasty things that make me even wetter with excitement, and I soon feel my end coming out of nowhere. I reach out with my free hand and Loki finds it and laces his fingers into it. My feet become sweaty against his chest, which I can feel rising and falling a little more enthusiastically beneath my toes.

"Oh…baby," he groans, and I laugh and warn him to be quiet. I finally notice the aroma of the eggs and bacon that I no longer eat coming from the kitchen downstairs, and I wonder whether Loki is hungry. His pace begins to pick up a little bit and I'm no longer comfortable in this position. I wince and break my hand free from Loki's grip, pressing back against his abdomen in discomfort. I feel as if he has reached a barrier inside of me that won't permit him to venture any further. He kisses my leg again while pulling out halfway before allowing my feet to fall from his chest. I position my hips comfortably against Loki's waist and he moans as I take him in comfortably. I push my hands up the back of his neck and through his hair as his warmth surrounds me, emanating from his arms. My knees never touch the cold hardwood floor, as Loki's body is tall enough to keep me off of it, even as he thrusts between my hips a little more vigorously, until I am propelling up and down against him. Loki holds my back tightly and we look each other in the eyes as we approach climax in unison. Loki presses his forehead to mine and I don't mind the gusts of nearly freezing breath escaping into my open mouth. His verdant eyes roll back and close as he stops thrusting, and I come all over his length. My muscles clench with excitement for a full ten seconds, at least. I stifle my moans by biting Loki's shoulder, and he has already trapped his noise deep in his throat. Our stomachs expand and press sweatily against one another as we try to catch our breath. There comes a knock on my door again and I feel the colour drain from my face. Loki goes rock still, holding his breath. I am utterly relieved to hear my sister's voice, asking if we're ready for breakfast, because she wants to get out and shop before it starts getting too crowded.

"I think this milk is about to go bad," my sister says, making an unsure expression despite continuing to eat her cereal. She stares over at me and I laugh. And then she laughs.

"Your face," I say, giggling. Loki laughs, glancing between the two of us. I start wondering whether he thinks we look the same. I can never tell the difference between Loki's clones when he replicates himself to mess with me. Loki smiles and slides his hand halfway up my thigh under the table. He doesn't bother to pull it away while my mom serves him two fresh pancakes from a hot pan. My mother serves Loki eggs and bacon along with them, and he reaches across the table for the fancy maple syrup that she never lets me use when I make pancakes for myself. My sister's fiancé, James, is too busy telling my dad about his temporary job as a paramedic as he also reaches for the syrup. James stops talking midsentence and apologizes to Loki at the same time as Loki apologizes to him.

"You go ahead," James says in his friendly deep voice.

"No, I insist," Loki one ups him with manners, and he proceeds to drown his pancakes while going on about his plan to work in the hospital with my sister once they both finish medical school. I can't help but feel a little bit jealous of her. She hasn't stopped beaming at her fiancé since they sat down at the table. She's been dating him for a while, and they only just announced their engagement at my aunt's annual Christmas party the previous night. James has deep, innocent brown eyes a pronounced, masculine jaw, and a full head of near-shoulder length coffee-brown hair that reminds me of a mop. I'm only jealous because she knows someone already working practically in a hospital, something we're both trying to do. She already has an immediate link, and it only helps that James's father had also given the couple his blessing and is a cardiologist in the same hospital where James works as a paramedic. If I had to listen to the subtle disapproval in my dad's voice one more time after he asked Loki about his art studio, I was sure I would burst out angrily. Loki squeezes my leg under the table. My mother is busy making herself a plate while my fifteen-year-old younger sister tries to convince her to let her stay over a friend's house for New Year's night. Loki looks down at me as if to ask if I'm okay; I know what most of his looks mean, and I must have been green with envy long enough for him to notice. I place my hand atop Loki's and smile. Without warning, he leans in to kiss me a moment before reaching for the syrup again. At twenty-five, I am still living in this house. My main focus is finishing medical school, just like my sister. Yet she was lucky enough to have met James the week we both started, and they had moved in together only a few months ago. I push the salad I had made distractedly in a big transparent bowl. I feel Loki's hand at the small of my back, where he rubs me while glancing out of the corner of his eye, forking up a scrambled egg into his mouth. Last night had been the first time he'd slept here, and we hardly had enough privacy, something I desperately yearned for. He hasn't even asked me to move in with him yet, and I hope it's because he also has a way of sensing how stressed out I can get over school most of the time, and I supposed me constantly cancelling our dates on the basis that I need to study for exams is a leading cause for his lack of suggesting the idea. Loki reaches for the pitcher on his right and replenishes my glass of water. I thank him quietly and we hurry to finish eating. Outside, Loki doesn't bother to zip up his coat, and I nearly freeze in the front seat, shivering noticeably. As it begins to snow a bit harder, Loki reaches out to place a hand securely on my knee as he backs down the long driveway I've been backing down since I'd gotten my license at seventeen. Loki follows James's black Mercedes down the street as we head to the mall. About halfway there, Loki sighs and I watch one of his pale hands turn off the radio that I finally tune to a station I'm satisfied with. I haven't said a word in almost ten minutes.

"You know you shouldn't compare yourself to your sister," he says cautiously, not taking his eyes off the light that slowly turns red. Ahead of us, I can see James kiss my sister from the driver's seat. I look out the window. Loki decides to continue, despite the envy I feel slowly rising.

"You don't even go to the same school, honey," he says, his voice still cautious, as if he's deactivating a bomb that might blow up in his face at any given moment. I know that he's right, however. My sister goes to school in New York, while I decided to stay at home in Boston.

"You're twins, but your lives don't have to be _exactly_ the same."

I am silent, but I can feel Loki's eyes on me almost tangibly.

"You know that if I could be some big shot medical student who doesn't even have to get good grades because his family is rich, I'd do it for you," Loki says wholeheartedly.

"My dad doesn't like you," I say at last, turning to Loki. He simply cocks a brow and looks from me to the road, and back and forth again.

"Really? Even after that grade A bourbon I gave to him for Christmas last night?" he asks, hoping to elicit a laugh. I don't even smile.

"It's not like it really matters to me, I just feel like…like somehow it's a reflection of what he thinks of me." I turn away to look out the window again, and hold back the tears that I know want to come out of my sleep deprived eyes.

"But it doesn't matter. _I _like you. That's all that matters. It has nothing to do with you—I'm sorry," I say hastily, hoping I haven't wounded him at all.

"Bunny, everything's going to be okay. You know that, right?" he asks. I feel Loki's hand on my knee again as he speeds up on the road. I sigh again, but this time a smile lights my face. Bunny, kitten, bird, love, dove, I never get tired of Loki's pet names.

"And I would hope that you _more than_ like me," he adds, half jokingly. I catch the faintest smirk at the side of Loki's mouth as he focuses on the winding road my sister and I used to opt for in place of the highway to get to the mall. I feel like a kid again as the memories rush to my head, and the road winds on, and Loki slows down in the snow behind James's Mercedes.

"Were you ever planning on telling your parents what I _really_ am?" Loki asks, and when I look at him and he casts me a gaze, I'm not sure whether he's joking or not, until he smiles. I lean over in my seat to kiss his cheek and he moans in a way that gives me jitters.

"Keep 'em coming," he says. I nibble his ear and he slows down to stop at the light which has just changed.

"I'm going to have to pull over," he says in a lust-coated voice. At that, I sit back in my seat and cross my arms, not touching him at all. Loki frowns over at me in childlike disappointment. I laugh genuinely.

"You know something, bunny, naughty girls get punished. And you're being a _very_ naughty girl right now."

"Oh, is that why you gave me a two-hundred-and-fifty-dollar spa gift card last night?" I ask sarcastically. Loki laughs. He begins to step on the gas again. He turns to look at me while managing to stay straight in the lane behind James.

"You wait until later when we're alone, young lady," he says, and my stomach does summersaults. When we park in the garage that is just beginning to grow crowded at eleven in the morning, I am thankful to have quickly found a spot. I step out of Loki's car and he closes the door before locking it with the remote key. He habitually winds an arm around my waist as we follow my sister and her fiancé to the entrance. My sister and I want to go to different stores first, so we decide to split up and meet for refreshments no later than one-thirty at the Cheese Cake Factory to use the gift cards my mom gave us both for Christmas. As we walk, I shiver again from the cold, as I had left my coat in Loki's car so I wouldn't have too much crap to carry. I knew how much I could shop when given the money. Loki reaches down for my hand and clasps it.

"Want my coat, baby?" I shake my head for no and smile as he lifts my hand to his lips to plant a meaningful five-second kiss on it. As we venture through Sears, he eyes the ties that have gone on sale.

"See anything you like?" I ask him hopefully, pausing when he stops at a mannequin. I wrap my arms around his waist from behind and rest my head against the middle of his back a moment.

"Hmm," he says, clutching my hands at his front and massaging my knuckles, "_Almost_," he adds, but then decides he doesn't like the dress shirt that's buttoned up on the half-headed mannequin in front of him. We walk further through Sears, finally losing sight of my sister and James. Loki glances around a bit before pulling me by my waist so that I'm so close to him, it's as if we are joined at the hip. I try my best to keep up with his long strides, and he slows down a bit, grinning down at me in a way that makes me blush. I had gotten him a gift card to Men's Wearhouse; he has been wanting to buy a new suit for my sister and James's wedding, which is quickly approaching for May next year.

"Want to get your tux?" I ask, leaning my head against Loki's jacketed arm.

"Of course. The sales," he says knowingly, nodding as we stop in front of the big sign that tells us where we are by marking a place on the map. Loki pulls me in front of himself where he can wrap his arms around me and kiss the top of my head. I watch one of his pale digits skim down the line to find men's apparel listed and the stores offered in the mall.

"Second floor," he says cheerfully before we start off again. He swings our hands back and forth pleasantly as we walk along. I pause to eye the front window of Forever21, even though I hate to shop there these days. When I look at Loki again, there is an odd nervous expression on his face and he quickly turns his gaze away from me when we continue on.

"What?" I ask, attempting to pry. Loki clears his throat in an uncharacteristic manner.

"Nothing," he lies, "I'm just glad you decided not to go in there. Those cheap frocks would _not_ have done your ravishing figure justice," he says, looking me up and down in a way that feels foreign, despite me being used to his stares in the near year and a half we've been dating. Loki, being an arbiter elegantiae, often had something to say about my clothes, and I sometimes found it annoying to shop with him. I knew that he loved me regardless, but he had a tendency to prefer certain colours and styles on me, some that I disagreed with entirely. I can tell that he's thinking about something other than what he wants to wear to my sister's wedding from the way that his eyes occasionally scan the sky, where there's nothing to look at but escalators and other people rushing to and fro to the post-Christmas sales in every store. Loki extends his hand with a polite flourish as he beckons me to get on the escalator first. I step on and wait. We aren't even half-way up to the second floor before I feel his hands on my hips, which he squeezes. I laugh quietly. I gasp when I feel his face flat out sink against my ass.

"Loki," I say with a hint of disapproval. I quickly glance around to find that only one sleazeball is looking at me as Loki moans uninhibitedly against my bottom. I turn enough to look down at him.

"Loki," I say more firmly. He pulls his face out of my butt cheek and smiles up at me patiently.

"Look at this, though," he says with gusto, squeezing my bottom through my jeans. I jump and nearly trip as we reach the top of the escalator. The man staring at us is standing behind Loki, who doesn't even notice. I walk off the escalator and dig a tissue out of my back pocket, using the excuse to get Loki's hands off my ass. He laughs as I throw the piece of crumpled fiber into the waste bin in front of me. Loki hooks his arm around my waist again, spotting the sign that would send us in the proper direction to get to Men's Wearhouse. He starts off before I get a chance to glare at the man who was looking at my butt on the escalator. I pull Loki's coat towards my behind, shielding it. Loki glances down at me.

"What's up?" he asks.

"Nothing. This guy on the escalator wouldn't stop looking at me," I say uncomfortably. Loki's eyes narrow and he pauses, a hint of anger washing over his sharp features. He turns to find that the man isn't too far behind us. He whips his phone out suddenly and pretends to be texting when I steal a glance back at him, too. Loki's grip on me tightens possessively and he tells me quietly what he'll do to this stranger if he doesn't stop staring at me, and I try not to laugh at the fact that this will get Loki into a lot of trouble with some mall cops if he doesn't cool off. Without warning, Loki pulls me in front of him, grabbing onto my hips and walking behind me so that the stranger no longer has a perfect view of my ass. We walk a few more feet and Loki turns to glance back a moment, before sighing with relief and telling me the man has changed direction, muttering in a lower voice that he thinks I can't hear about it being a good idea, because he would've taught the bastard a lesson. Loki pulls a hand down my ponytail and we finally arrive at Men's Wearhouse. When we get inside, Loki can't help but start smiling like a kid in a candy shop, and I stand around pleasantly while I watch him wave me over to ask if I think this suit or that will look good on him. I tell him that I like when he wears vests, and he shoots me a suggestive grin and wags his eyebrows, which causes me to laugh a moment. I remind Loki that my bridesmaid dress will be lilac, so he decides on a black vest and a lilac dress shirt to add to the handful of items he decides to try on before disappearing into the dressing room. I sit patiently a moment to wait before Loki emerges and does a 360 for me. I stand up, marveling at how good he looks in the black vest. I approach him and he dips his head to plant a kiss on my forehead.

"We can match," he says before placing his hands on my hips, adding that he wishes I had my dress right then so we could see whether the shades of lilac were too off to look nice together. I tell Loki that I'm sure it will do. He looks so good to me that I have to resist the urge to tear everything off him and take him on the floor of the dressing room. He disappears behind the black doors once more to try on something else. I pick my phone out of my pocket to find that we've killed only twenty odd minutes, and that my sister has texted me a picture of a bra she wants my opinion on for her and James's honeymoon. I smile and tell her I think peach looks nice on her before Loki emerges again from the dressing room, and I decide that I want to go to Victoria's Secret next.

"Do you think the cummerbund is too much?" Loki asks honestly, peeling open the black blazer he's wearing to reveal an emerald cummerbund, before tugging on a matching bow tie. I gasp and walk over to him to reach out for the bow tie.

"Oh my god, it's so cute," I say honestly, letting my hands slide down Loki's sides. I know that it arouses him when I do this, and smile to myself.

"I love it," I say, smoothing out the blazer and stepping back to admire his full frame. He looks relaxed suddenly, as if he'd been afraid I would detest it.

"I know it's got your favourite colour, Lo," I add.

"If you want it, you should get it," I say. He smiles before traipsing back into the dressing room.

"Consider it bought," he says. When we're done at Men's Wearhouse, Loki has used all of the hundred-dollar gift card I bought him for Christmas, including another two-hundred on his credit card. I know he only wants other options for the upcoming gallery event he's having in a few weeks at his studio, the one I keep praying my next physical chemistry exam will not fall on so that I can go. I know that Loki's going to be showcasing something very special from Dale Chihuly's newest collection, along with a painting of me he's been working on for some time, and I don't blame him for wanting his subject present for the occasion. When I tell Loki that I want to go to Victoria's Secret, he smiles seductively and I feel as if he's looking at me naked, so I hurry ahead of him, only to feel him hook a finger inside one of the belt loops on my jeans. When we get inside, Loki simply stalks me in a way that begins to arouse me violently, especially when I feel him run his fingers through my ponytail or lean in against me so that his waist makes contact with my lower back. I feel him push my hair back and forth playfully, lightly dust his fingers across the skin exposed at the nape of my neck. I almost fall forward examining a push-up bra when I feel Loki blow a Jotunn-cold breeze against my neck, holding my ponytail up and out of the way to be sure it touched me. I shiver and he rubs the frost off my neck with warm fingers, massaging his thumbs into my skin. I finally swat his hands away from me before I lose all control. Loki laughs almost triumphantly at the fact that he already has me hot and bothered. I turn around with an armful of bras to find that the lechery has not left his eyes when they meet mine. I glance towards the dressing room.

"I'm going to try these on. Do you like them? Did you see anything you want me to—" before I can finish asking, Loki rips a red thong out of one of the panty drawers and hands it to me with a perfectly straight face. My heart races when he scans the drawers, pulling out something before zeroing in on my waist and deciding that what he'd picked isn't the right size, before continuing to look for something he wants to see me in. He seems so dedicated to what he's doing that I don't bother to tell him how much I hate thongs. I smile shyly when a saleswoman comes by and asks if we're finding everything okay. I say yes, before Loki has the nerve to joke and ask her where the whips are. He gazes curtly in her direction as she walks off, laughing the way he does after he tells a joke, and I'm glad I wasn't delayed to answer the saleswoman's question. Loki pulls something cream white and silky looking out of a drawer and starts slowly around the furniture towards me. He begins to smile with teeth, the grin ever riddled with mischief, and I literally start to tremble on my feet. It's another thong. He presses it into my hands and smiles, cupping my lower back as we start towards the dressing room.

"I want to see you in all of them," he demands as I place the bras on the hooks. I know that I'll just buy the underwear for him, whether I like them or not. I run over to the dressing room door and close it, telling Loki to be patient. I start to take my shirt off and watch Loki's feet disappear under the door as he wanders off a bit to lean against a wall. I put on a lacey red bra, eying myself in the mirror before deciding I like it. I open the door a bit and Loki peels himself off the wall with a grin before starting towards me. I notice that there's no one else around to see, and that Loki is blocking my changing room's door, so I pull it open further while remaining inside so he can get a good look. Loki hooks his new suit bags over the door.

"I like this," he says, running his tongue over his lips like I was something to eat. He places two hands on my sides.

"Yeah, this one," he says. I laugh before pressing him to get out so I can try on another bra. The next one is gray. I open the door to find Loki still standing there. His visage is clouded with desperation as he looks down at my breasts. He nods and I tuck some stray hair behind his ear, causing him to close his eyes and lean his face into my palm. The next bra is a violet sort of purple. When I decide I hate the style on account of half my nipples being exposed, I hang it back up and try on the yellow one. When I show it to Loki, he sighs and whispers, "Shit," under his breath. I contain my laughter and reach for the next one, which is a rich green shade and strapless. This time when I open the dressing room door, Loki's pupils dilate and he fastens an iron grip on my hips.

"Wow, you like it that much?" I ask, a little surprised. The bra isn't even very lacey or sexy, in my honest opinion. Loki says nothing, but meets my eyes. Slowly, that familiar sensual smile begins to spread across his face. I laugh and press against his chest, but he doesn't back away so I can close the door. He cocks a brow and I say his name unsurely as he gazes back and forth a moment, as if to check that no one is watching. I say his name again and he shoves me into the room and closes the door. My eyebrows arch as I watch him hang up his coat carelessly over the door before removing the black t-shirt that clung to his muscular frame.

"Loki," I say slowly, scanning the ceiling for security cameras. His smile doesn't fade as he begins to unbutton his jeans, and I can see how aroused he already is, and wonder why I didn't notice it after showing him the second bra.

"We are _not_ having sex in a dressing room," I whisper under my breath, but my body tells me otherwise as Loki stalks towards me slowly. I point at him warningly and shake my head. He lifts me up so that we are at eye level and I soon find myself in the corner with his hands all over my body, tugging at my jeans. I laugh and he shushes me. He rips my jeans down along with my underwear, and I kick off my boots to allow me to wrap my legs around his waist where he has already set his erection free. Loki holds me up easily against the wall and slips himself inside of me. I become aware again of the slight soreness, recalling the night before on top of this morning, but I can't resist wriggling my hips against Loki desperately as he bucks his waist up between my legs. We both struggle to keep quiet, and I am so thankful no one has appeared to notice what we're doing. Loki pulls my hair back gently and covers my neck in hungry kisses, holding me up entirely in his arms. He then presses me against the mirror. It's cold, and I shiver. I can see his face in it through my peripheral vision, reflecting all the passion that I can see vividly in his expression when I look at him again. We make as little noise as possible. Loki turns and leans me against the wall again, hooking his arms under my knees and one moan escapes me. He smiles, not caring who hears at this point, but I bite my lips and try my best to shut up as we meet our orgasm together. I cup his face with gratitude. I feel Loki pulsing inside of me as he catches his breath against my forehead. I press at his chest and he lets my legs down, which have fallen asleep and the pin and needle sensation pricks at my toes. Loki grips my hip and squeezes it satisfactorily. My breasts swell in the afterglow. Loki leans down and kisses each of them lingeringly, pulling me by the waist towards himself. He takes a deep breath of relief and closes his eyes a moment.

"You shouldn't have shown me that green bra," he says jokingly as he pulls his jeans back up and reaches for his shirt off the bench. I laugh. I feel his fingers pulling my shirt out of my jeans so that I look less disheveled once I get all my clothes on again. When we're at the register, Loki still hasn't taken his hands off me; he stands behind me gripping my hips and playing with my hair. When we leave Victoria's Secret, he's holding my hand securely. My phone rings and my sister asks if we're ready to meet up and eat lunch already, as it's continually getting more and more crowded in the mall. Loki and I hurry to the Cheese Cake Factory to find my sister and James already waiting at a table for us. We enjoy a nice lunch before starting out of the restaurant, which is getting too loud. My sister and James exchange glances with Loki as we stop in the middle of the mall. I look at Loki, then at them again. My sister covers her mouth with her hand to hide a smile and I have no idea why. I am about to ask if something is going on as Loki takes all of my bags from me and places them in front of my sister, who leans against James. Loki hands James his suits and he smiles me in a knowing way, but I have no idea what it is that he knows.

"Loki?" I ask.

"Oh, look at that," he says, pointing to my snow boots, "your shoe is untied." The way he says this is odd, and as I watch him kneel down in front of me, I become quickly aware of the fact that my boots are lace-less.

"But, these shoes don't have la…ces…" I trail off as Loki pulls a little black box out of his pocket. For a moment I am entirely confused, until I realize that he's kneeling down in front of me holding a _little black box_, until I realize that people are stopping to watch and there are smiles on their faces. My heart stops for a second as Loki looks up into my eyes hopefully and opens the box to reveal a diamond ring. Tears well up in my eyes and I don't even feel it when Loki clasps my hand.

"From the moment you walked into my studio, I knew that there was something about you I needed," Loki starts, his own eyes glazing over slightly. By now, he has attracted a crowd and I am frozen in utter disbelief.

"When you kept coming back, I knew there had to be a reason for it. I remember how nervous I was when I asked you out for the first time. I was honestly scared you were going to say no," Loki says honestly, and I hear a few _awws _from the people around us. I have to wipe my eyes in order to see him down in front of me as a smile graces my face.

"I would have asked you yesterday to marry me, but the minute I was going to do it, during dessert, your sister's fiancé was telling me that they were about to announce their engagement. He said he felt nervous, seeing as _you_ didn't even know, and you and your sister tell each other _everything_. So I decided at the last minute that I'd just wait, so that you could have your _own _moment. I know you're twins, but you don't always have to do the same things at the same time."

I laugh and Loki's smile is honest.

"Will you marry me?" he asks, nervousness washing over his face. I nod vehemently and choke out a yes that I think is barely decipherable through my tears of joy. Loki closes his eyes with relief and slips the stone onto my finger. There's clapping and more _awws_ as he stands and picks me up, spinning me in the air, and as he turns to face my sister and James before kissing me, I catch a glimpse of the picture she snaps with her phone. One woman wipes a tear from her eye beneath her glasses and says congratulations to us. Loki looks so relieved when I stand on my toes to give him another kiss as he thanks the stranger.

"Did you think I would say no?!" I asked in shock. He bowed his head to press the fore of it to mine.

"To be honest, part of me thought so," he admits. I wrap my arms around him and hug him tightly. He returns the gesture.

"First order of business, you're moving in with me. That bed is way too small for my legs, and I'd like to not have to worry about locking the door," Loki says, lowering his voice an octave. I could not have agreed more.

"Merry Christmas," he grins. And as our lips meet again, it's the best gift I've ever received.


End file.
